Education

Around the world, one in every five children — from youth to adolescence — are not in school. Youth from ages 15–17 are four times more likely to be out of school than children 6–11, and in sub-Saharan Africa alone, one in every three children are out of school.¹ Just 50 percent of primary school aged refugee children are enrolled in school, and 25 percent of secondary aged refugee children are enrolled in school.² In 1820, just 12 percent of the world could read and write.¹ Today, 86 percent of the world is literate.³ Two thirds of the world’s illiterate population are women.⁴ In 43 nations, women aged 15-24 are less likely to be literate than men, primarily in Northern Africa and Western Asia.⁴ The global youth literacy rate has grown from 83 percent to 91 percent in the last 20 years.⁵ Worldwide, 130 million women and girls — from the primary to the secondary level — are not in school.⁶ In a study conducted with a sampling of 100 countries, when increasing the number of girls completing 12 years of education by 1 percent, economic growth rises by 0.3 percent. On a global scale, that would yield an increase of $15 trillion in revenue annually.⁷